It's been awhile, so this one's long!!

SUMMER FUN!!!

Time is flying by, Benjamin has been with us for 10 months.  I can’t believe that we have not blogged since April!!!  We are all doing wonderful and have had a very busy summer. We are so blessed to have Bryce, Elise and Benjamin love each other so much!  The newness has definitely worn off, by the fact that Bryce and Elise don’t give him everything he wants now.  There is some sibling arguing occasionally, which shows he is part of the family!  This summer has been really neat due to all of the “firsts” for Benjamin.  The whole family has loved introducing Benjamin to places and people that are important in our lives.

 Ohio with Ahmah and Grandpa

The month of June, we were on the road 3 of the 4 weeks.  First, we were able to bring Benjamin to OH for the first time to visit Ahmah and Grandpa’s home, where Scott grew up.  This was the first major trip that we have been on since October.  Everything went very well.  Scott and I even got a little (much needed) time away to Denver, CO! 

Bryce with some new friends in Clarkston, GA

Later in June, Bryce and I had the awesome privilege to go serve the Lord on a mission project in Clarkston, GA (right outside of ATL) with an organization called Global Frontier Missions.  Refugees from all over the world are placed here, who have never heard the name of Jesus.  It was a very special week for Bryce and I, and he did great with the early AMs and the late PMs.  He made some friends from countries all over the world like Iraq, Nepal, Tanzania, Burma, Korea, etc.  God is literally bringing the nations to us!  During this week Scott took off work and had excellent father daughter and son time.  I believe this helped Benjamin’s relationship with Scott tremendously to allow him to see that dad can provide his needs as well!

Cousins at Great Grandfather Lex's visitation

Right after we came home from the mission trip, my very special 92 year old grandfather, Lex, passed away, so I headed right back out of town for another week.  Benjamin was able to meet my cousins and many other family members through this experience.  Benjamin was unfortunately not able to meet Lex.  He will be missed, especially by my grandmother Ruth, they were married for 63 YEARS!!

Another new experience was going to our pool to swim.  Benjamin had never had the opportunity to swim, so we had many lessons to learn, like he sinks if he tries to go alone!!  Our first time to the pool, we only had 2 incidents….. not tooo bad, right?

Fun on the boat

Elise lost a tooth at the beach!

My grandparents own a home in Destin, FL and I have been going there since my childhood.  We go there several times each summer, so it has been very special when we went with Benjamin for the first time.  We were able to go in July for the week, which was a great vacation.  He absolutely loves the water.  He loves the beach.  He loves the sand and the swimming.  He loves the boat rides and fishing.  It is hard for him to tell which he like the best.  “I like all of them….”  is a common response we get from him.  Bryce and Elise were so cute when we were getting to our place and wanted him to see everything at once. ‘Look Benjamin, there are the palm trees, there is the beach, there is the water, there is a kite”  It goes on and on and on.  My brother and his family were able to join us while we were there; so all the cousins were able to play together.

 Fish on!

Fish in!

We were also able to go to my parent’s house, on Lake Martin, and let Benjamin see the lake and play on the boat and the dock.  We were able to take a Super Mable (tube) ride, kayak rides, and boat rides, which all the kids love!  Bryce and Elise started to learn to ski, which is so exciting for me!! =)  I even got up for the first time in over a year (paid for it for several days to follow).

 Nanette in action!

Super Mable!

 Bryce in action!

 Benjamin in action!

Elise in action!

So we have had a very special summer.  Benjamin has been doing so much better with his behavior.  The lying has decreased significantly and we are still learning to obey, but what child isn’t???  I do believe I noted a dip in his behavior after all the traveling, so maybe he was missing our home?  Scott and I have to realize that even though Benjamin is not “special needs’, he does have unique and special needs that we need to be aware and conscious of all the time.  He loves to be held, which is hard for me, at 38lbs, and he needs a lot of affection and attention.  I am pursuing to have him assessed for speech therapy b/c he is having a hard time with his “s” and “th” sounds.  He has not been pronouncing the words clearly.  Overall, he is so sweet and kisses me all the time.  He loves to help and share.  He is a great fit for us and he has blessed our family tremendously!  I praise the Lord for bringing him into our family.  I do think back of this time last year with all the painful waiting to go get him.   God has taught Scott and I so much through all this experience and I am sure we have so much more to learn!!

Finally, an update...

Hello to all!

I can’t believe that we have not posted since Feb.!  I guess life has gotten busy with all the ball practices and piano!  We are doing very well.  Benjamin has had some new firsts!  During spring break, we were fortunate enough to have Scott’s parents stay with us the week!  Benjamin was able to get to know and spend time with his grandparents.  It did not take long for him to learn that they are lots of fun!  They kept them busy going to places like Chuck-E-Cheese and multiple other restaurants!  The last weekend of the break, we took a family camping trip to Oak Mountain State Park for one night to “test the waters”.  We went on his first hike to Peavine Falls.  He loved the snacks on the hike!!  Benjamin did really well, especially since this was the first time to be away from our home!  Our family tent camps, so we were aware that this is a strange concept anyway…  God provided the best campsite in the whole park, right at the water at the beach, so we were able to go swimming right at our campsite!  Benjamin, Bryce, and Elise had a blast playing in the water.  We then had the campfire with hot dogs and smores.  Lots of family memories!   Benjamin was reserved and taking it all in, but seemed a little nervous at night.  We made it fun and had him sleep between Bryce and Elise.  All the kids are now wanting to go back again for 2 nights this time! 

 The tent sleeps 12!!

Peavine Falls 

 Good times!

 The water was cold!!

Hot dogs from the campfire!

The morning...probably 6:30am!

Elise had her first Father –Daughter dance with Girls Scouts.  She looked so beautiful and they had a great time with the “red carpet” theme.  She had her hair and nails done and special daddy time!  She has really taken to piano as well!  She started it in March and has progressed so quickly.  She has her first recital in May!  Music has a special place in her heart!

 First bouquet of flowers

Elise loves crafts...

Bryce is doing well in his soccer.  He plays really aggressive and runs from one end of the field and scores!  He has also begun to enjoy reading more.  The “Geronimo Stilton“ series has locked him in and he finishes them fast!  He actually was begging us to take him to the bookstore so he could spend his allowance money to buy some books, which he read in that same weekend!!  I am thrilled to see him into it!

Basketball cake

presents, presents, presents

We were able to celebrate Benjamin’s 4^th birthday in April!!  He wanted a family party at his favorite restaurant.  You guessed it…. McDonald’s.  Due to severe weather and tornados, we were unable to go, but brought it in instead and had a great time at home with the family.  It was so special to have both sets of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins!  We played musical chairs and listened to music, played chase and hide and seek!  Benjamin wanted a sports/ basketball them birthday, so he picked his cake out and I made it for him!

Easter eggs!

Finally, we were able to celebrate Easter this past weekend and it was fabulous!  What a joy to be able to share the full story of our Lord Jesus dying on the cross on Good Friday, but having victory over death when He was raised from the dead on Easter!  Bryce, Elise and I dyed and decorated Easter eggs to tell of the beauty that Christ can bring into your life.  We did resurrection rolls and found that the marshmallow was gone, representing Jesus no longer in the tomb.  It is so fun to tell all these stories to fresh little ears!

They all get along pretty well!

We had our 6-month appointment at the International Adoption Clinic as well.  (It has actually been 7 months.)  They tested him and found that he is doing very well, almost in the gifted range!  We knew that he was a smarty pants, but now there is proof!  He is doing very well with the language.  We are trying to help him say his “S” and “TH” sounds.  He knows all his letters and sounds as well as his numbers 1-13.  We do still have issues with lying and withholding right answers.  We have actually done a 180 on how we are working with him in this area basically following a book by Purvis called The Connected Child.  I feel like it is getting better, or we, the parents, are handling it better! =)

Wow!  I think that catches us up on everything.  We will try not to wait so long to recap the progress.  Basically, Benjamin is a very happy child and has adjusted very well.  Bryce and Elise still are great with him, but he is definitely part of the family and doesn’t get his way with them all the time like it was in the beginning!

Nice teeth!!

Family Picture

We brought Benjamin home September 30 and we thought it was a little strange that part of his routine was to have a bottle of formula each night.  When we got home, we continued this routine for a few reasons: 1. to keep his routine the same and 2. all of the books say this is a time for mom and child to bond.  He could drink the bottle while Nanette was rocking him and he could get more familiar with her.   We knew that we needed to do this, but we also knew that he needed to get off the milk at night.  So, after about a month or so, we transitioned that to water and then we got rid of it altogether.

Fast forward several months and we take all 3 of the kids to the dentist.  When it's Benjamin's turn, he gets in the chair...and you know you are in trouble when the dental hygenist says "ooh, there's a cavity, before she even puts her hands in his mouth.  After she cleaned him up, the dentist comes in and says "this is in the double digits".  Nanette said, "excuse me? are you talking about cavities?"..."yes maam, it looks like he has at least 12 cavities".  12 CAVITIES!!!.  He's only 3!  So we are in the process of figuring out a course of treatment.  Unfortunately, our dental insurance does not cover anesthesia and our medical insurance will not cover it for dental procedures.  So we are trying to get this figured out and make sure he gets what needs to be done.

Who would have thought? 12 cavities!!

Otherwise, all things are going well.  Benjamin goes to "school" 2 days per week and seems to like it.  It took us about a month or so to get him tell us a name of one of the other kids in his class, but he does seem to like it and really likes his teacher.  He is learning his letters, numbers, etc.. and his english is progressing each day.  We are now working on how he pronounces his words, trying to correct him and make sure that he says the word right.  

Very proud of his blue Q, painted with a q-tip!

One of his favorite phrases is: "all the time".  For example, "Daddy, I like to eat candy ALL THE TIME" (he said this at the dentist!!!) OR "Mama, I like to play the computer ALL THE TIME".  Another favorite is "I like gum ALL THE TIME".  

This spring is looking like it will be busy: Bryce will be playing soccer, Elise is going to start piano lessons, and Benjamin will go from activity to activity!  Life is good...

It’s not all smooth…

All the cousins at Christmas

We have not updated in a while and things are going great.  Benjamin continues to amaze us with the amount he learns every week.  He pretty much knows his ABCs and he loves to try to write the letters, especially the B.  Benjamin likes to color now even if everything is in the color green!! 

On our blog we have stated how well he has been doing, which he is, but it is not always a “bed of roses”.   Benjamin is definitely a strong willed child, much more so than Bryce or Elise.  We attribute this to the “survivor” spirit of his first 3 years of life.  He deliberately tests and crosses the line, and then when discipline occurs, he cries big crocodile tears with a huge pouty lip!!  One of the issues that we are dealing with is lying.  He tends to lie frequently to the point where we sometimes don’t really know whether to believe him or not.  He has even earned the occasional nickname “little liar” (he has never heard us call him this).  It could be a communication gap so we are praying that through our instruction and teaching and his continued language development that this will get better.  I wonder if this is a common problem with adopted children….

On the flip side, Benjamin is such a helper.  He LOVES to help me with whatever I am doing (folding clothes, cleaning up, vacuuming, etc.).  He is always eager help us out.   He also does better at clearing the table and putting away his things than his older siblings!

There's nothing in the backpack...but it's fun to wear!!

The new news is that Benjamin has started school at God’s House two days a week just 3 hours at a time.  He loves it and wants to go more.  I think that he likes it b/c Bryce and Elise go to school everyday and he likes to wear his backpack!  He loves his teacher, Mrs. Millie, and we are trying to get him to learn the names (or a name) of a friend at school.  When I pick him up, he is always appears happy and says that he has fun, although I can’t get anything further from him. 

I do believe that he understands the majority of what we are saying to him, but he does have a hard time communicating extensive information to us.  For example, his day at school answer will be “ I dunno”.  He tries sometimes and you can see him thinking and trying to come up with the right words!

mmm...french fries...

He continues to eat well.  He loves chips, French fries, noodles, apple juice, hot chocolate, and hot tea.  The sleeping issues have just about resolved.  He sleeps in his bed for naps and at nighttime with a short routine to put him down.  He loves to be held but this is being reduced simply b/c he is too heavy for me to carry for long distances!  He does not watch much TV, but does like Dora and Diego, Mickey Mouse and Leap Frog.  He also has started to show more interest in our daily Bible story time, which is exciting.  It is so fun to teach him Bible stories for the first time.

Benjamin did get to experience his first snow/ ice a few weeks ago. We had fun sledding!!  He has dealt well with this cold weather considering that it is does not get below 60 degrees in Taiwan!!  His skin is so tender to the cold and blisters easily. This is about everything new for now….

Happy New Year

It's been awhile since we updated, but here are some pictures from the past few weeks.  Everyone has been asking us how Benjamin did with Christmas..he knows it was Jesus' birthday and he got to open presents, so it was an overwhelming success.  I don't think he had a clue until Christmas morning, but it sure didn't take long to catch on at that point!

We continue to make progress, his english is coming along and it seems like he learns something new everyday.  I know we keep saying this but Bryce and Elise are still doing great with him.  

 At the lake, Benjamin's first boat ride...

 The peace sign is something every kid in China/Taiwan seems to do...not sure why.

...now Bryce and Elise often do it.

 Going to see Santa...he liked the reindeer!

 "Who in the world is this weird guy in the red suit??" 

 First time to Krispy Kreme with dad...he didn't really like the donuts...but the hat was cool!  A few nice scratches on the nose from being wild and crazy.

 Time for a haircut...